Conflict Research Consortium ARTICLE SUMMARY

"Cold War Parties and Issues"

Louis Kriesberg

This article summary written by: Tanya Glaser, Conflict Research Consortium.

Kriesberg examines the parties and issues involved in the Cold War. Who the parties to
the Cold War conflict were can be difficult to decide. It can be described as a conflict
between democracy and totalitarianism, between imperialism and socialism, between NATO and
the Warsaw Pact nations, or between the leaders of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Kriesberg
focuses on the American and Soviet governments as the main parties to the Cold War
conflict.

Kriesberg examines the U.S. and Soviet interests which fueled the Cold War. Both sides
had certain realistic goals. The U.S. was interested in maintaining its global economic
power, in reducing Soviet control of eastern Europe, and in improving human rights for
Soviet citizens. The U.S.S.R. was interested in gaining acceptance in the international
community, legitimating its control in Eastern Europe, and expanding its sphere of
influence.

Both sides had some misunderstanding of the other's interests. Each nation claimed to
be acting only in their own defense, each had strong domestic reasons for expanding their
military, yet each saw the other's actions as threatening and aggressive. As the Cold War
wore on, the issues of the conflict were often vague and unclear. When relevant,
ideological issues tended to escalate the conflict. Competing U.S. and Soviet programs
tended to spark more specific disputes, over the Middle East or Germany, for example. The
specific issues in such disputes tended to be muddied by their connection to the larger
issues of the Cold War. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. also had common interests. Both wanted
to avoid nuclear war. Both would benefit from reduced military spending, and from more
open cultural and scientific exchanges. By cooperating, they could prevent third parties
from challenging their global dominance.